Research & Publication
​Due to the Earth's magnetosphere, cosmic radiation from the sun is somewhat deflected and humans on the surface are not subjected to the intense radiation they will receive on a long trip to Mars. Through a partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), terrestrial neutron radiation sources, such as an AmBe source, can be used to study various shielding materials that could potentially be used to protect astronauts from neutron radiation resulting from cosmic ray interactions with walls of the spaceship
Neutron Attenuation of an Ambe Source, Journal of Undergraduate Report in Physics 2020
​In this project an americium-beryllium (AmBe) neutron source was used to study the attenuation characteristics of polyethylene on an incident flux of varying neutron energies from 200 keV to 10 MeV. The linear absorption coefficient suitable for a single neutron energy was found to vary with absorber thickness due to the higher cross section for absorption of low-energy neutrons. The attenuation coefficient for a thickness greater than 15 cm was found to be associated with higher velocity neutrons
Neutron Energy Distribution of an Ambe Source, APS Washington DC 2020
Bubble detectors are useful tools for determining neutron radiation of both an AmBe source and a 15 MV medical linear accelerator (LINAC). Neutron bubble detectors are used to demonstrate the 1/r2 distribution as well as highlight the neutron fluence in the region of 250 keV to 15 MeV. To determine the energy distribution of the sources, a more sophisticated system of bubble detectors, which have different energy thresholds for bubble production, must be used. These energy dependent detectors require an external compression system, unlike the screw system used on the broad-spectrum detectors. A system of a multiple energy dependent detectors and the recompression system will allow reuse of the detectors and a variety of experiments for energy determination of the neutron spectrum. Our goal is to determine the effectiveness of polyethylene shields, in terms of the mass attenuation coefficient for different neutron energies
Neutron Energy Distribution of Ambe Source, APS New York 2022
At Suffolk University, the Neutron Research Project has been investigating the neutron energy distribution of an Americium-Beryllium (AmBe) source located at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The energy distribution of AmBe sources varies and the distribution of the one at MGH is unknown. Using an array of commercially available energy threshold bubble detectors, we have constructed a six window energy histogram of the activity ranging from 0 to 20 MeV. To mitigate backscattering that causes artificially high bubble counts, we used a rectangular array of detectors on posts with the source on a polyethylene stack. Additionally, to eliminate non-physical negative activities due to statistical errors, we developed a program to solve the six-coupled energy absorption equations by minimizing the error squared from predicted and measured bubble counts. The end result is activity, with errors, of the AmBe source in the six different energy regions. Knowing this we will be able to pursue the determination of energy dependent neutron attenuation coefficients of different materials
